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You’ve shopped around, read hundreds of reviews, scrutinized neighborhood maps and finally booked a great hotel — with a great rate to match. Now you can sit back, relax and dream about how fantastic your stay is going to be, right?

Wrong. If you want to get the lowest possible rate on your stay, your work isn’t necessarily done after you’ve made your initial booking. As we recommend in Get the Best Hotel Rate, “Once you’ve booked your hotel, don’t just rest on your laurels. Call back or check online in another month or so and see whether rates have gone down. If they have, cancel your booking and rebook your stay at the lower rate. (Read the hotel’s cancellation policy carefully before doing so to make sure you won’t have to pay any penalties.)”

Yapta.com is well known for monitoring airfare and alerting travelers when prices drop, but the site recently added hotel tracking as well. Before or after you book, you can select specific hotels for the site to keep an eye on. If the rate drops, you’ll get an immediate e-mail, enabling you to act quickly to make or change your reservation.

Of course, you may be out of luck if you’ve already put down a hefty nonrefundable deposit on your hotel, or if the property has a stringent cancellation policy. But if you’ve got a little wiggle room, checking for falling rates is an easy way to trim your vacation budget.